WEIRD WINTER. BIG CHANGES.

I’ve been a bit quiet both here on my Imaginegnat Journal as well as over on social media. It has not been intentional. Yet, as I look back I can’t help but look back and feel like it’s all playing out as it should and showing me a way forward regarding how and why I use various digital outlets and channels.

As I look back over the first two months of twenty twenty four there is no shortage of things to look at. Here are just a few of the things that stand out to me; our whacky warm MN winter, my wife and daughter skiing the Birkie on a 10K loop of manmade snow, upping my focus on health & wellness, long bike rides in both Feb & already in March that surpass my historical outside miles, and re entering work in the bike industry. Honestly there is a lot more than that.

Today, I intend to dig into a few of those things. But before I do, I want to share a quote.

you need to do more than eat nourishing food, exercise, and rest to feel your best.

You also need to be around good people, spend time healing your emotional history, live in alignment with your values, say no to people-pleasing, stay open to growth and deeply embrace change

young pueblo – the way forward

Yeah, that’s a lot I know. No easy task. But….I can honestly say that this is where my mind was focused for January & February of 2024. For much of what I have been doing, I have been continuing to attempt to reprogram my brain & habits.

Most of this reprograming is focused on debunking and changing many things that I learned in my twenties and thirties that simply are not true, especially related to diet, exercise, health and wellness. I am also beginning to adapt and accept the realities of getting older and how my body responds differently to change, food and exercise. So much to learn. This journey is just beginning.

So just what am I focused on moving forward? How about a story first? A few weeks ago my wife and I rented a cabin up north near Spooner, WI. Both my wife & daughter, as well as friends we rented the cabin with were skiing the Birkie. I’ll share a few pics of that below, but the big news of that weekend was that this cabin we rented did not have any internet/wifi connection and our location had no cell service either. Complete radio silence. Occasionally a random text would come through from 7 hours earlier, but we were essentially in lock down. And you know what? We survived. It did however highlight the dependency on phone and cell/wifi connection. It also highlighted that digital communities are great, but nothing like sitting at a table with real people and real friends, laughing & sharing. Lastly, it highlighted the dependency on cell or wifi connection for work. One of the days, I drove into town to sit at a coffee shop to open some work email, answer some questions and get some communications out.

Going forward, what if I treated social media as work and focused on true relationships with people as opposed to seeking acceptance and support from online communities? How would this positively impact my life? What if I took the time I wasted on social media and put that into my learning, craft and art? Yeah, think of all those changes. That for me is what I believe my future beholds.

OK…Enough serious talk, here is some fun and pictures!

I mentioned the Birkie where both Jen and Natalie skied. It was Natalie’s 2nd and Jen’s first. What a weekend. Weird but amazing. Hard to believe that there could be a ski race this year with absolutely zero snow. Thankfully the Birkie crew made and stored snow for a 10 Kilometer loop and managed to pull off an amazing 50th anniversary event. We also got to see Jessie Diggins ski, whom I think just may be the best spokes person and role model of any sports athlete int he world. Seriously.

Did I mention I was working a bit again? I started a business consulting company last fall. Any surprises my main focus is the bike industry?

While still part time, it’s been fun to be part of Tumbleweed Bikes. I have been consulting with Tumbleweed bikes for a bit, mostly on the back end of things. As I’ve started move into some more forward and outward focused tasks & projects, Tumbleweed posted something on their social channels introducing me. That was an amazing and humbling day. I heard from so many people. Honestly, I was on the phone until almost 10PM that evening. What a fun day and so great to re connect with a lot of folks from the industry I love. Gave me peace and hope and reminded me just how good people can be. Thank you TW and thank you friends. And the second picture is my office in our kitchen. Not bad.

Bikes. Yeah, I love them and continue to focus pretty much any waking hour and open time to thinking about bikes. The last few months I built on something I started last year. Instead of the foundation of my exercise being riding outdoors, I committed to 3-4 days a week of indoor fitness and strength training AND riding outside when conditions were ideal. We also added a tread 50 class to our weekly routine. A Tread 50 class is 50 minutes of aerobic treadmill work. I’ve had a good winter. I’ve ridden my Fatbike only a few times and taken my any road bike out for some longer rides when it’s nice. While I have missed the bike, I feel like I am going into the season stronger.

Lastly, we’ve had a good winter seeing our adult children becoming their own people and creating their own paths forward. Jen & I did our best and of course made some mistakes along the way. All parents do, but we did our best. We are so thankful that both these kids continue to keep us in their lives, journeys and adventures. They are teaching us so much and we continue to grow as a result of these two. So much love and we are so proud of whom they are and the paths they are on.

Thanks for attempting to follow along on this long and winding post. I had to get a lot of stuff out of my head! Hope you enjoyed at least a little bit of it or found something that resonated with you.

Next up! The Mid South! I can’t wait to head to Oklahoma in a few weeks to ride my bike, hang out with friends and party! More to come.